Argentoratum - Strasbourg The KLEIN familly welcomes you Argentoratum: (Strasbourg). A city in what is now Alsace eastern France, on the German frontier, 2 miles west of the Rhenus (Rhine). The city originated on an island between two branches of that river's tributary the Helella (Ill). Originally the capital of the German tribe of the Triboci, it was known to the Romans as Argentorate (or Argentoratum), silver fort. Augustus' stepson Drusus senior (Nero Drusus, died 9 BC) may have established a garrison of auxiliaries there. From soon after AD 16 until 43 a fortress existed, forming part of the military command (subsequently province) of Germania Superior (Upper Germany); it was occupied by a legion, and later by legionary detachments, who constructed the first basalt wall (to supplement an earthen bank).

After the city's destruction in the Gallo-German rebellion of 69-70 AD, Argentorate resumed its role as a legionary headquarters in c 80 (shortly before Upper Germany was elevated to the status of a province). Further serious damage followed in 235 AD, for during the 3rd and 4th centuries the place was severely exposed to German invasions, which led the inhabitants of its adjoining civilian settlement ( canabae ) to abandon their quarter and crowd into the fortress for protection. ! Argentoratum | Article about Argentoratum by The Free Dictionary Argentoratum | Article about Argentoratum by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . Strasbourg (sträzbo͞or`), Ger. Strassburg, city (1990 pop. 255,931), capital of Bas-Rhin dept., NE France, on the Ill River near its junction with the Rhine. It is the intellectual and commercial capital of Alsace Alsace , Ger. Elsass, region and former province, E France. It is separated from Germany by a part of the Rhine River.

It comprises the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, and the Territory of Belfort (a department created after the Franco-Prussian War when the rest of ..... Click the link for more information. . The city's chief industries are metal casting, machine and tool construction, oil and gas refining, and boatbuilding. Strasbourg's goose-liver pâté and beer are famous. Iron, potassium, gasoline, and numerous industrial products are shipped through Strasbourg's great port on the Rhine. The city has an important nuclear research center. It hosts a long-running music festival and has an opera company and several museums. In Roman times Strasbourg was called Argentoratum and was an important city in the province of Upper Germany. It became an episcopal see in the 4th cent. Destroyed by the Huns in the 5th cent., the city was rebuilt and called Strateburgum [city of roadways]. After becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire in 923, Strasbourg, with the surrounding rural area, came under the temporal rule of its bishops. Its location at the crossroads of Flanders, Italy, France, and central Europe made it an important commercial center.

In 1262, after some struggles with the bishops, the burghers secured the status of a free imperial city for the city proper. An upheaval in 1332 established a corporate government in which the guilds played a leading role. Medieval German literature reached its height in Strasbourg with Gottfried von Strassburg Gottfried von Strassburg , fl. 13th cent., German poet, also called Godfrey of Strasbourg. He is thought to have been official scribe of Strasbourg, but little is known of him. As author of the Middle High German Tristan (c. ..... Click the link for more information. . There also Johann Gutenberg Gutenberg, Johann , c.1397–1468, German inventor and printer, long credited with the invention of a method of printing from movable type, including the use of metal molds and alloys, a special press, and oil-based inks: a method that, with refinements and increased ..... Click the link for more information. 's printing press may have been invented (15th cent.).

Strasbourg accepted the Reformation in the 1520s under the leadership of Martin Bucer Bucer or Butzer, Martin , 1491–1551, German Protestant reformer born Martin Kuhhorn. At 14 years of age he joined the Dominican order, and he studied at Heidelberg, where he heard (1518) Luther in his public ..... Click the link for more information. and became an important Protestant center. The Univ. of Strasbourg, founded in the 16th cent. as a Protestant university, numbered Goethe Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von , 1749–1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist, and scientist, b. Frankfurt. One of the great masters of world literature, his genius embraced most fields of human endeavor; his art and thought are epitomized in his great dramatic poem Faust. ..... Click the link for more information. and Metternich Metternich, Clemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Fürst von , 1773–1859, Austrian statesman and arbiter of post-Napoleonic Europe, b.

Koblenz, of a noble Rhenish family. ..... Click the link for more information. among its students. The city's prosperity began to decline in the early 17th cent. and was severely damaged by the Thirty Years War (1618–48). In 1681, Louis XIV Louis XIV, 1638–1715, king of France (1643–1715), son and successor of King Louis XIII. Early Reign After his father's death his mother, Anne of Austria, was regent for Louis, but the real power was wielded by Anne's adviser, Cardinal Mazarin. ..... Click the link for more information. seized Strasbourg, which was confirmed in French possession by the Treaty of Ryswick Ryswick, Treaty of, 1697, the pact that ended the War of the Grand Alliance. Its signers were France on one side and England, Spain, and the Netherlands on the other. It was a setback for Louis XIV, who kept Strasbourg but lost most other conquests made after 1679. ..... Click the link for more information. (1697).

The persecutions of French Protestants after 1685 were not carried into Strasbourg, which raised little objection to the annexation. The city enthusiastically supported the French Revolution and thereafter increasingly adopted French customs and speech. Bombarded by the Prussians during the Franco-Prussian War Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, 1870–71, conflict between France and Prussia that signaled the rise of German military power and imperialism. It was provoked by Otto von Bismarck (the Prussian chancellor) as part of his plan to create a unified German ..... Click the link for more information. , Strasbourg was ceded to Germany by the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871). It was recovered by France in 1919, following World War I. The city was occupied by the Germans and severely damaged in World War II. Most historical monuments, however, were saved. Chief among these is the Roman Catholic cathedral, begun in 1015 and completed in 1439. It has a famous astronomic clock installed in 1574.

After the war, the city expanded toward the east and south; in 1967 some 30 neighboring towns were absorbed into a new Community of Strasbourg. In 1949, Strasbourg became the seat of the Council of Europe Council of Europe, international organization founded in 1949 to promote greater unity within Europe and to safeguard its political and cultural heritage by promoting human rights and democracy. The council is headquartered in Strasbourg, France. ..... Click the link for more information. . Strasbourg is now also the seat of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Union's European Parliament European Parliament, an institution of the governing body of the European Union (EU). It convenes on a monthly basis in Strasbourg, France; most meetings of the separate parliamentary committees are held in Brussels, Belgium, and its Secretariat is located in Luxembourg. ..... Click the link for more information. . Strasbourg (also Strassbourg), a city in eastern France, on the 111 River, at the confluence of the 111 and Rhine rivers, and on the Rhone-Rhine and Marne-Rhine canals.

Historical capital of Alsace and administrative center of the department of Bas-Rhin. Population, 254,000 (1968); with suburbs, 395,000 (1972). Strasbourg is a major transportation junction and industrial, commercial, and cultural center. It is France’s second most important river port, with a freight turnover of 12 million tons in 1972. The city has an airport and is a railroad and highway junction. Manufactures include motor vehicles, machine tools, railroad equipment, riverboats, textiles, apparel, wood products, and leather goods. Other industries include electrical engineering and food processing. Oil refineries are located outside the city, as are enterprises of the petrochemical and rubber industries. Strasbourg has a university and a music conservatory. Strasbourg arose on the site of a Celtic settlement. It was taken by the Romans in the middle of the first century B.C .

The fortified camp of Argentoratum was founded on the site during the reign of the emperor Augustus (27 B.C Argentoratum : Wikis (The Full Wiki) The Full Wiki Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Did you know ... From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Geographic and strategic location of Argentoratum Argentoratum or Argentorate was the antique name of the French city of Strasbourg . The Romans under Nero Claudius Drusus established a military outpost belonging to the Germania Superior Roman province close to a Gaulish village near the banks of the Rhine , at the current location of Strasbourg , and named it Argentoratum. The site had already been settled almost continuously since about 700,000 BC.

[1] The name "Argentoratum" was first mentioned in 12 BC and the city celebrated its 2,000th birthday in 1988; however, "Argentorate" as the toponym of the Gaulish settlement had preceded it before being latinized though it is not known by how long. [2] . As systematic archeological studies between 1947 and 1953, [3] conducted by Jean-Jacques Hatt, archeologist and director of the Musée archéologique de Strasbourg , have shown, Argentoratum was destroyed by fire and rebuilt six times between the first and the fifth century AD: in 70, 97, 235, 355, in the last quarter of the 4th century and in the early years of the 5th century. It was under Trajan and after the fire of 97 that Argentoratum received its most extended and fortified shape. [4] From the year 90 the Legio VIII Augusta was permanently stationed in Argentoratum.

[5] The Roman camp of Argentoratum then included a cavalry section and covered an area of approximately 20 hectares (49 acres), from approximately 6 hectares (15 acres) in Tiberian times. [6] Other Roman legions temporarily stationed in Argentoratum were the Legio XIV Gemina and the Legio XXI Rapax , the latter during the reign of Nero . [7] The centre of the camp of Argentoratum proper was situated on the Grande Île , with the Cardo being the current Rue du Dôme and the Decumanus , the current Rue des Hallebardes. [8] Many Roman artifacts have also been found along the current Route des Romains in the suburb of Kœnigshoffen, on the road that lead to it. [9] This was were the largest burial places ( necropoleis ) were situated as well as the densest concentration of civilian dwelling places ( vicus ) and commerces next to the camp.

[10] Among the most outstanding finds in Kœnigshoffen were (found in 1911–12 by Robert Forrer, Hatt's predecessor at the head of the Musée archéologique) the fragments of a grand Mithraeum that had been shattered by early Christians in the fourth century. [11] As it were, from the fourth century, Strasbourg was the seat of the Bishopric of Strasbourg (made an Archbishopric in 1988). Archeological diggings by J.-J. Hatt below the current Église Saint-Étienne in 1948 and 1956 have unearthed the apse of a church dating back to the late 4th century or early 5th century, and considered the oldest church in Alsace. It is supposed that this was the first seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Strasbourg . [12] The Alemanni fought a Battle of Argentoratum against Rome in 357. They were defeated by Julian , later Emperor of Rome , and their king Chonodomarius was taken prisoner.

On 2 January 366 the Alemanni crossed the frozen Rhine in large numbers, to invade the Roman Empire. Early in the fifth century the Alemanni appear to have crossed the Rhine, conquered, and then settled what is today Alsace and a large part of Switzerland . From this period on Argentoratum disappears from historical records and is replaced by the toponym "Stratisburgum". References Strasbourg | France | Britannica.com Strasbourg Alternative Titles: Argentoratum, Strassburg, Strateburgum Related Topics Strasbourg, German Strassburg, city, capital of Bas-Rhin département, Alsace région, eastern France . It lies 2.5 miles (4 km) west of the Rhine River on the Franco-German frontier. Scenes of Strasbourg, France, including the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the headquarters of the … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Confluence of the branches of the Ill River, Strasbourg, Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine … © Netfalls/Shutterstock.com History The city was originally a Celtic village, and under the Romans it became a garrison town called Argentoratum.

It was captured in the 5th century by the Franks, who called it Strateburgum, from which the present name is derived. In 842 Charles II (the Bald), king of the West Franks, and Louis II (the German), king of the East Franks, took an oath of alliance there, the Serment de Strasbourg, a text of which is the oldest written document in Old French. After a struggle for power between its citizens and the bishops in the Middle Ages, Strasbourg became a free city within the Holy Roman Empire . Strasbourg’s population was mainly Protestant after the Reformation but cautiously avoided the religious conflicts of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48). In 1681 Louis XIV of France seized the city in peacetime and obtained ratification for his arbitrary action by the Treaty of Rijswijk (1697). The town retained its privileges until the French Revolution (1787–99). In 1792 Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle , a French poet, musician, and soldier, composed in Strasbourg the anthem of the Rhine Army, since known as “ La Marseillaise.

” In the Franco-German War (1870–71) the Germans captured Strasbourg after a 50-day siege and annexed it. The city reverted to France after World War I . It was occupied by Germany again (1940–44) during World War II . The city gained international status with the opening there in 1979 of the European Parliament . European Parliament building, Strasbourg, France. Lukas Riebling Marseille The city of Strasbourg is traversed by the Ill River, which divides and surrounds the Grand Île (Big Island) on which the old town and most of the city’s famous buildings are situated. The island was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988. Strasbourg’s 11th–15th-century Cathedral of Notre-Dame , damaged in 1870 and again in World War II, has been carefully restored. Built of red Vosges sandstone , it is a harmonious edifice despite the variety of its architectural styles.

It has an asymmetrical facade (mainly 13th century) with fine sculptured portals and only one tower , which has a tall (455 feet [139 metres]) and graceful 15th-century spire . Some of the cathedral’s sculptures, together with vestiges from other old French churches, are exhibited in the Maison de l’Oeuvre Notre-Dame, next to the cathedral. The 18th-century Château des Rohan, a former episcopal palace , houses three museums. The La Petite district of the city has several well-preserved old streets with wooden houses, as well as some picturesque canals. Strasbourg, France. © Ultimathule/Shutterstock.com Tanning, milling, metalworking, and brewing industries have long existed in the city, but major industrial development did not begin until the 1950s because of the city’s border location. Strasbourg’s present-day economic activities include food processing, mechanical and electrical engineering, and the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, electronics, and plastics. There is also a large automobile assembly plant in the city’s industrial port zone.

The port itself is one of the largest on the Rhine and handles shipments of petroleum, agricultural products, and building materials. Strasbourg plays a major role as a business, commercial, and cultural centre . Besides its traditional role as the chief city of Alsace, Strasbourg is also the seat of a number of European institutions and bodies including the European Parliament , the Council of Europe , and the European Court of Human Rights . The city has several universities (among them the prestigious National School of Administration [ENA] for civil service and international cooperation). The city centre, with walking paths and tram cars, has also become a popular tourist destination. A regional airport lies 9 miles (15 km) southwest of the city. Pop. (1999) 264,115; (2008 est.) 272,116. Headquarters of the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France. Kpalion A tram car in Strasbourg, France. Courtney Horwitz Rhein And Lang Of Herrlisheim BRIEF HISTORY OF ALSACE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE-LORRAINE .

Alsace and Lorraine were located in the region inhabited by the ancient Gauls that today comprises modern day France, western Germany (including the Saarland), parts of Belgium and northern Italy. When Julius Caesar wrote his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars in 52-50 BC, the Graceo-Roman world had already known Gallic peoples for hundreds of years in both warfare and trade. As early as 734 BC, Ionian Greeks from Phocaea on the northwest Turkish coast established ports in Mediterranean Gaul. Latin students will recall the first line of the Commentaries, "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam que ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur. All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, and in ours Gauls, the third". . Phocaea, or Phokaia (modern-day Foca in Turkey) as an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Antatolia.

Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia (modern day Marseille, in France) in 600 BC, Emporion (modern day Empúries , in Catalomia, Spain) in 575 BC and Elea (modern day Velia , in Campania , Italy ) in 540 BC. Phocaea was the northernmost of the Ionian cities, on the boundary with Aeolis . It was located near the mouth of the river Hermus (now Gediz ), and situated on the coast of the peninsula separating the Gulf of Cyme to the north, named for the largest of the Aeolian cities, and the Gulf of Smyrna (now İzmir ) to the south. Phocaea had two natural harbours within close range of the settlement, both containing a number of small islands. Phocaea's harbours allowed it to develop a thriving seafaring economy, and to become a great naval power, which greatly influenced its culture. Recent archaeological surveys have shown that the city of Phocaea was large for the archaic period.

Herodotus gives an idea of the size of Phocaea by the describing the walls of Phocaea as having a length of several stadia. A 4th century BC Persian Tomb, known as Tas Kule (rock tower), stands (38 39' 37" N, 26 49' 2" E) 7 km east of Phocaea along a main road. This funerary monument was carved out of solid rock with a lower 2.7 meter high rectangular story (9 × 6 meters) surmounted by a second 1.9 meter high story (3 × 3 meters). Four steps between the two levels suggest strong Persian influence and most archaeologists believe this tomb was built for a Persian aristocrat or local leader serving the Persians. Conquered by the Roman legions of Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC it became part of Celtic Gaul. It had been profoundly Romanized by the time of the invasion of the Alemanni and other Germanic tribes in the 4th century AD.

The Alemanni, however, were conquered by the Franks under Clovis in 496, and Alsace became a Frankish duchy. Under Merovingian rule, the area was Christianized and colonized. . Alsace was incorporated in Lotharingia in the mid-9th century and was united with the German territories of the Carolingians by the Treaty of Mersen in 870, a redivision of the Carolingian empire by the sons of Louis I. It divided the kingdom of Lotharingia between Charles and Louis, following the death of their nephew, Lothair, king of Lotharingia. France obtained the territories roughly corresponding to modern Netherlands, Belgium and Lorraine. The Holy Roman Empire received Alsace and the left bank of the Lower Rhine. . Alsace became a center of the Reformation although a number of rural areas remained Catholic. During the Middle Ages, a number of powerful towns, such as Strasbourg and Colmar, won status as minature republics. Alsace remained part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1648 when it became a province of France through the Treaty of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years War.

France consolidated further her holdings in Alsace with the Treaty of Ryswick in 1679 bringing a numbers of towns under her control. The territory, however, remained divided into a number of secular and ecclesiastical lordships and municipalities, which remained significant until the French Revolution, 1789-1799, when it was split into departments. Commune de Herrlisheim, which was in the jurisdiction of Hanau-Lichtenberg (earlier part of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt), low Alsace, became Commune de Herrlisheim, Canton of Bischweiler, Department of Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France. In Roman times Strasbourg was called Argentoratum and was an important city in the province of Upper Germany. It became an episcopal see in the 4th century. Destroyed by the Huns in the 5th century, the city was rebuilt and called Strateburgum, "City of Roadways". After becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire in 923, Strasbourg, with the surrounding rural area, came under the temporal rule of its bishops.

Its location at the crossroads of Flanders, Italy, France and central Europe made it an important commercial center. In 1262, after some struggles with the bishops, the burghers secured the status of a free imperial city for the city proper. An upheaval in 1332 established a corporate government in which the guilds played a leading role. The city's prosperity began to decline in the early 17th century and was severely damaged by the Thirty Years War, 1618-1648. Louis XIV seized Strasbourg in 1681 and it became a part of France. This was confirmed by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. Strasbourg one of the leading cities of the Protestant Reformation returned its cathedral to the Catholics in 1681 and became a city with a large Catholic population. The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 following the War of the Grand Alliance also required Louis XIV to surrender the Palatinate to the Holy Roman Empire.

It was during this nine year period (1688-1697) when Louis XIV ruled the Palatinate that Catholics were given complete or joint possesion of a number of Protestant churches, and the title to the property thus attained by the Catholics in many places was upheld by the Treaty. Further, the Treaty contained a clause, the Simultaneum which was added at the last moment, that preserved certain legal rights for Catholics in Protestant churches. Although it would appear that the Simultaneum was to apply only to the Palatinate it was also adopted in certain jurisdictions in Alsace. See Links section, Maps of Alsace, for those locations and comments about the effect of the Simultaneum in Alsace. . The earliest information on Herrlisheim is in the year 743 when it was conveyed to the Abbey of Wissembourg under the name of Hariolfesvilla, the farm of Hariolf (Harold). In 1251, the village is the property of the Counts of Oetigen, landowners of low Alsace who ceded it to the lords of Lichtenberg in 1332.

In 1480 with the death of Jacques de Lichtenberg the heritage is divided between Phillipe de Hanau and Simon Wecker the Count of Two-Bridge-Biche. The village is incorporated in 1570 with the property of Hanau-Lichtenberg with the extinction of Two-Bridge-Biche. On September 17, 1570, Phillipe IV of Hanau-Lichtenberg, one of the largest jurisdictions in low Alsace, orders the prohibition of Mass and imposes Protestant religion in the area. This was known as "cujus regio, ejus religio" ("whose religion, his religion"); that is the religion of the prince is the religion of the land. The former Roman Catholic church buildings and benefices were taken over by Protestant Churches. Subsequent to 1570, Hanau-Lichtenberg became a part of the house of Hesse-Darmstadt. In December 1621 and January 1622, Mansfeld's mercenaries raze the area and the inhabitants of Herrlisheim and Drusenheim take refuge in tents on the islands of the Rhine River.

In the year 1681, Herrlisheim was converted by force from protestantism to catholicism. Herrlisheim lies on a fertile plain between the Vosges and the Rhine River. . Conquered by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871, France gave up Alsace, except for the Belfort Territory, along with the Moselle portion of Lorraine, to the new unified Germany and the history of Alsace becomes that of Reichsland Elsass-Lorthringen or Alsace-Lorraine. . Lorraine . Lorraine was originally that portion of the empire of Charlemagne which fell to Lothair I by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, and was called Lotharingia. In early medieval Germany, counts palatine served as stewards of royal territories in the absence of the Holy Roman emperors. In the 12th century the lands of the counts palatine of Lotharingia (Lorraine) were formed into the separate territory of the Lower Palatinate. The name Lorraine was originally given to two areas between the Saone and the Rhine.

The northern portion between the Moselle and the Rhine was called Upper Lorraine and the southern portion Lower Lorraine. The latter soon became known as Brabant and that name became confined to the Moselle country. . It was an area of constant dispute between France and Germany. French domination of the area dates from the 17th century, when control of the duchy became vital in the struggles between the French kings and the Hapsburgs, who ruled the Holy Roman Empire. The French had already established a foothold by taking Metz, Toul and Verdun in 1522, and they occupied the duchy a number of times in the devastating wars of the 17th century. In 1736 the French obtained the duchy for the ex-king of Poland, Stanislaw I, whose daughter had been married to Louis XV. In 1766 the death of Stanislaw I was followed by the incorporation of Lorraine with France, until 1871, when the Department of Moselle was annexed by Germany following the Franco-Prussian War.

The area was returned to France by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 following World War I, then again annexed to Germany from 1940-1944, when it was liberated by the Allies during World War II. . Alsace-Lorraine . The term Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine (Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen), was first used in 1871, when the former French province of Alsace, (Departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin) and the Department of Moselle, Lorraine (with some minor changes), 5,067 square miles, were annexed by the newly formed German Empire. Most of traditional Lorraine remained within France. The population of Alsace-Lorraine in 1890 was 77% Catholic, 21% Protestant and 2% Jewish. The upper part of the Vallee de la Bruche (the cantons of Saales and Schirmeck), which had been part of the Vosges, Lorraine passed to Alsace in 1891-1892.

German immigration played an important role in the social and economic life of Alsace-Lorraine after 1870. On the eve of World War I close to 300,000 Germans (including 70,000 members of the military) lived in Alsace-Lorraine. They had settled, by and large, in the towns and occupied key positions within industry, the liberal professions, the civil service, and within the skilled and unskilled work force. Germans comprised 35 percent of Strasbourg’s inhabitants at the beginning of the century. By 1918 some Germans had been established in Alsace-Lorraine for decades. Their relatively high intermarriage rate with Alsatians strengthened regional social ties to Germany. The growing links between the immigrant communities and Alsatians made the massive repatriations in the postwar years of World War I all the more difficult. On November 9, 1918, Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated and Philipp Scheidmann (a German Socialist politican) declared Germany a republic in a speech from the Reichstag.

As Alsace-Lorraine had been administered by Berlin and the Emperor, and had no state government and monarch like other German states, the departure of the Emperor left an even larger vacuum of power. Similar to other areas of Germany, the former seamen established a Soldiers' Council of Strasbourg, and took control of the city. A council of workers and soldiers was then established and presided by the leader of the brewery workers' union. Their motto was: 'Neither German nor French nor neutral. On November 11, 1918, the Armistice was signed, ending the war. The same day, the Diet of Strasbourg proclaimed an Indedpendent Republic of Alsace-Lorraine. The Landtag (parliament) proclaimed itself the "National Council of Alsace-Lorraine" and the sole legal authority there. The next day, the National Council took over all functions of the Statthalter and of the Secretary of state, and proclaimed the sovereignty of Alsace-Lorraine. Eugene Ricklin and Jacques Peirotes (socialist politicans from Alsace) were in charge. Independence was short-lived as the French occupied Mulhausen on November 17th.

They took Colmar and Metz on the next days, and, on November 21, 1918, French troops arrived in Strasbourg. After eleven days of independence, Alsace-Lorraine was occupied by and incorporated into France. The region lost its recently acquired autonomy, was returned to the centralized French system and divided into the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle (the same political structure as before the annexation and as created by the French Revolution, with slightly different limits.) The growing links between the immigrant communities and Alsatians made the massive repatriations in the postwar years all the more difficult. More than 110,000 German men, women, and children living in Alsace crossed the Rhine back to Germany between late 1918 and late 1920. Some had been expelled, others lost their jobs, and yet others driven by fear quickly packed up and left when they saw the new order of things. Approximately 100,000 Germans in Lorraine met the same fate.

Near Strasbourg, those expelled, allowed only a few hand-held suitcases, crossed the Rhine with their heads bowed under the jeers of “patriotic” (and sometimes rock-throwing) Alsatians who cried “death to the boches” and “in the Rhine with you.” Amused French soldiers stood and watched. Old Alsatians complained of an “ignominious” and “pitiful” spectacle. Later, Alsatian Catholic historians sympathetic to autonomism (a broad movement that campaigned for regional self-determination) placed the blame on mobs led by hysterical women, unemployed journeymen, and men “in bourgeois clothes” who taunted and insulted the Germans, pelted them with horse manure, and spat at them. Unable to explain convincingly why Alsatians had turned with such fury against Germans, the authors accused those whose sense of regional identity was presumably tenuous: women and the down-and-out. This was easier than confronting the fact that the war and liberation had shattered the mythical unity of Alsatian society. These territories were ceded to Germany during World War II, but France regained them after Germany's defeat in 1945. .

(Source- Excerpts from various encyclopedias, including Encyclopedia Britannica, Catholic Encyclopedia, the web-site for Mairie de Herrlisheim and other web sites, in order to present a summary of the history of this area.- JP Rhein) Argentoratum - Strasbourg From Barbarians to Rome According to legend, Strasbourg, originally known as Argentorate, traces its ancestory back to the mythical Trébéta who was the son of Sémiramis and the supposed father of the Trévires and Triboques (the Celts of Trève and lower Alsace). Archeologists and historians have given justice to this myth by taking us through their excavation of the earliest traces of Strasbourg's history which recount the civilization of Rhénanie 700,000 years ago. Before the creation of Argentoratum by the Romans in 12 B.C., the origins of Strasbourg may be traced back to the existence of Argentorate. Argentorate was a large celtic village with at least one permanent activity. This site had been previously occupied by a varied group of people who completed sporadic and successive activities.

Contrary to a persistant legend, the Romans did not arrive to find a virgin forest occupied by a few uncultivated barbarians who passed their time trying to painstakingly maintain the little light they had thusfar shed on humanity. In reality, people had been present in this sector for already 700,000 years: Alsace had five thousand years of agricultural development and two thousand years of metalurgy. Different groups of people had come to Alsace from Central Europe and the occidental borders of Europe as far as the Atlantic and the English Channel, in addition to the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Their presence is attested to by the fabulous collection of objects they left behind, including jewels and arms, which may be found in the Archeological Museum of Strasbourg. Geography directs history: this site, from the outset, due to its geographical complexity and diversity paved the way for fascinating events.

Concerning the original location of Strasbourg, one is obliged to highlight the following two perfectly obvious and contradictory aspects: -the location was advantageous as it represented a potentially powerful circulation hub with its dense system of water canals and land paths; -the location was unexceptional, almost adverse, as it was an essentially inundated zone which meant that the site would not be conducive to protecting the health of its residents. In particular, malaria would not be eradicated before the 19th century! Favorably disposed, it is by its situation at the center of an important long narrow excavation dug into the earth from the Rhine which was the result of the successive collapsing of the earth's crust in the Tertiary Period. In this "trench" which stretches from the Mediterranian to the Lake Mjösa in Sweden, the Rhine is but a late host. The Rhine's contribution to the location is substantial: the Alpine alluvial deposits and its sand and gravel sediments set the stage for an imposing layer of underground water which would aliment the springs. Water is everywhere, whether it be underground (two to eight meters below the earth) or fluvial.

Water plays a dual role in the history of the city: assisting communication via canal transport routes as well as providing a natural defense. In addition, the hills of limestone at the foot of the Vosges mountains provided fertile earth for vineyards which would produce excellent wines, playing an important role in the later economy of Strasbourg. The climate, on the other hand, did not appear advantageous. The semi-continental climate favors the extremes; it is either very cold or very hot. Nonetheless, despite all the negative factors, this location would be accepted, built and developped by succesive generations of varied people. Ideally located at the center of the Rhine "trench", this location offered a relatively easy south-north access. The two banks of the Rhine were endowed with land paths. As the preferred main route of the Roman penetration towards the north, the Rhine was the cultural and economic backbone from Northern Italie to Holland from the High Middle Ages to the Renaissance, from the 12th to the 13th centuries. To this day, this region continues to be the most industrial as well as the most populated of Europe. Overall, this location was well-balanced between the fertile land due to alluvion and the Rhine.

The forests were cleared, the trees cut down and small villages would be established on this agricultural land. Fishermen, hunters, daring travelers and runaways would venture upon this place which was not the most hospitable. However, Argentorate, the celtic establishment, would give birth to Argentoratum, the Roman camp. Strasbourg's history had only just begun. In fact, Strasbourg should have been named Drusenheim, as it was founded by the Roman General Drusus, the brother of Tibère. General Drusus constructed more than fifty forts along the Rhine river. These forts, built from Switzerland to Holland, constituted a sort of Maginot line before its time. This development took place between 12-16 B.C. One may suppose that under Emperor Augustsus, Argentorate was composed of five or six thousand inhabitants, who for the most part were foreigners who had not set out to settle there. Thus, this small town had already taken on a very cosmopolitan character which was also a bit unstable. Different legions succeeded one another in what had become a legionary camp. An important period of growth and relative prosperity took over the military and civil agglomeration.

This agglomeration would, little by little, take on the same proportions of an insular island. The Germanic tribe, which included the Suèves, submitted to a Roman peace. Henceforth, the Roman Empire's border would find itself projected towards the east, beyond the Black Forest. Argentoratum remained the most important logistical homefront base for the Romans until 260 A.D. In the new civilization that developped on the border of the Roman Empire's decadence, Strasbourg was an ardent melting pot in which the adverse elements of this new world dissolved. In 352, the Alamanni and the Franks totally destroyed about forty of the fortified towns along the Rhine, including Strasbourg. But Rome decided to reconquer Argentoratum and drive the Alamanni out. Caesar Julian , known as the "Apostate" who opposed Christianity, would defeat the Alamanii troups in 357 A.D. Thanks to this battle, the Roman Empire had a short respite. The city of Argentoratum was partially restored. In 406 A.D.

an ethnic downpour covered the city of Mayence or Mainz, on the German side of the Rhine. Under the Huns' pressure the Burgondes, Vandales and the Suèves pounced on Gaul, the region which is now known as France. It was Attila who definitively destroyed the city in 451 A.D. After the devastating passage of the Huns, the Alamanni established themselves as the rulers of the region. During the next several decades, history would lose all trace of Argentoratum. Germania Superior Easternmost Province of Gallia Diocese Provincial History In early historic times the Germanic culture settled along either side of the lower Rhine river and the Celtic tribes similarly along the upper. Bridged and crossed by Julius Caesar in 55 and 53 CE, the Rhine became the boundry of Roman Gaul and the frontier of the Empire from from Lake Constance to its mouth at Lugdunum Batavorum (Leiden, Neth.).

Under the Emperor Augustus the provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior were established on the other side of the Rhine, as part of the effort to expand the Roman frontier to the Elbe river, but this halted after the disasterous Varus disaster in 9 CE. After the Civilis revolt during the Year of the Four Emperors (69 CE) the area along the Rhine became a military frontier. The Emperor Domitian reformed the Germania provinces out of Belgica province in Gaul; the border of lower Germany now ended at the Rhine. South of Bonna (Bonn) the boundary of the Roman Empire was marked by the limes (Roman fortified frontier) well east of the river. The Romans under the Flavian emperors began annexing the area in AD 74 to secure better communications between the Rhine and Danube armies. This latter area was annexed to Germania Superior and called the Agri Decumates. Today this zone is the Black Forest and adjoining areas of what is now southwestern Germany between the Rhine, Danube, and Main rivers. The name may imply earlier occupation by a tribe with 10 cantons.

According to Tacitus, the territory was previously inhabited by the Helvetii; later, Gauls settled there. The Romans were displaced from the Agri Decumates by the Alemanni in about 260 CE. Life on the Rhine Once the frontiers had stabilized, cultural and commercial contacts were inevitable and influential, and as important as armed conflict. Although the frontier was heavily fortified, it was not a hindrance to the passage of trade or people. Rome exported fine pottery, glass, and metalwork across the Rhine. In return, raw materials such as amber, leather, and slaves went back across the frontier. "Free" Germans also served in Roman armies. Border raids were constant, and there were periodic larger disturbances. Between about 150 and 200 CE a whole series of Germanic groups moved south along the river valleys of central and eastern Europe. This migration was violent and highly destructive. About 150 CE the Marcomanni, a Germanic tribe, moved south into the middle Danube region. In 167 they got as far as Italy itself, forcing the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son spent the next 20 years curbing their inroads.

These migrations resulted in great violence along the entire frontier during the 3rd century. Parts of Gaul suffered greatly, and Germania Superior was on the front line of the conflicts. Although Goths ravaged the Danube region, even killing the emperor Decius in 251, intensive campaigns brought the Germanic tribes back under control, so that by about 280 stability had returned to the Rhine and Danube. The Roman army and an alliance system involving, among others, Franks, Alemanni, and Goths maintained the frontier until about 370 Germania Superior is an Imperial province over which the Imperator is proconsul. It is governed by a legate of consular rank who is in command of both the provincial administration as well as all the military forces in the province. The provincial capital is at Moguntiacum, in the north of the province. Each city in Germania Superior is governed by either a Decuriones (high councilor) or a Curiales (mayor). Decurions are appointed by the provincial governor.

Question: Which City in France was known to the Romans as 'Argentoratum'?
Answer: STRASBOURG